Villa dismiss Deehan as O'Leary rings changes

John Deehan was sacked by Aston Villa last night as the new manager David O'Leary shakes up his backroom staff. The experienced Deehan, who was first-team coach, was told he will be leaving with O'Leary bringing in a fresh set of faces.

Deehan was taken to the club two seasons ago but will make way for O'Leary's new arrivals, with Roy Aitken due to join him from Leeds United.

Kevin Blackwell, the Sheffield United assistant manager, remains confident that his club and Leeds will avoid going to the courts to resolve his future.

Blackwell's status has been in doubt since Leeds stated their intention last Friday to appoint him as head coach under their manager, Peter Reid. The two clubs have been in dispute over the past few days, with Sheffield United demanding compensation for the 44-year-old Blackwell, who still has two years left on his contract at Bramall Lane.

It is understood that the First Division club are looking for £100,000 plus a friendly fixture, which they believe will net a further £200,000 in revenue. While hard-up Leeds are willing to comply with the request for a match, they do not want to fork out the rest of the money for Blackwell, a situation that has resulted in stalemate.

The impasse has reached an unsavoury point at which Sheffield United are threatening to impose an injunction on Blackwell to prevent him from moving to Elland Road, which would lead to the situation being resolved by a Football Association tribunal.

Blackwell, currently on a coaching course in Warwickshire, feels the matter will not go that far. He said: "My understanding is that both clubs have spoken today. Reidy seems to think it will be resolved quite amicably and that compensation will be agreed.

"It will be good from my point of view if it can be resolved because I don't want to leave United and it will all be messy."

The Sheffield United chief executive, Terry Robinson, confirmed yesterday that the two clubs are still in discussions, adding: "I am waiting to hold further talks with Leeds chairman John McKenzie. Due to time constraints we've not been able to conduct discussions to any great degree."

The Birmingham City manager, Steve Bruce, plans to persevere with his efforts to sign David Dunn from Blackburn Rovers. The Ewood Park club initially rejected Birmingham's £5.5m club record bid because not enough of the money was offered up front.

But as both clubs have reopened negotiations over the transfer, with Blackburn likely to accept a down payment of £4m and the remainder dependent on Birmingham's Premiership survival, Bruce is still keen on landing the player.

Bruce said: "We made an offer to Blackburn which fell short of their valuation. We've gone back in again and are talking to them and we're at a bit of a stalemate at the moment. We'll keep monitoring the situation and see what develops over the next few days. I think when you have a chance to bring in a player of David's quality you try and do all you can."

The former England international Paul Gascoigne will remain at the Chinese B-League team Gansu Tianma despite returning late from a holiday, according to the official Xinhau Chinese news agency.

"Gascoigne's agent has contacted him after receiving the club's call," Tianma general manager Zhang Tongpo told Xinhua. "We were told that Gazza has no intention to leave. He is certain to come back."

The 36-year-old midfielder, who checked into a clinic in Arizona in April after suffering from depression, signed a one-year renewable contract with Gansu Tianma as player-coach in January.